


Night Light

by MycroftNeedsMoreBullshit



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Happy Ending, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Nightmares, Oneshot, Sorry), confession of love, fear of darkness, sleeping together in a family-friendly way (literally, so no smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-12
Updated: 2020-11-12
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:14:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27530578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MycroftNeedsMoreBullshit/pseuds/MycroftNeedsMoreBullshit
Summary: Nightmares haunted Sans almost every night. The shadows in his room didn’t help, which he thought was ridiculous. He was a fully grown skeleton, and wasn’t supposed to be scared of the dark. However, there was a solution to Sans’ problem.
Relationships: Grillby/Sans (Undertale)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 52





	Night Light

**Author's Note:**

> Ok wow I haven’t posted a fic in years, well, actually, I haven’t even written a fic in years. So, uh, writing summaries and tagging is kind of hard lol. But if you’re here I guess I did alright.
> 
> Sorry if the English is a bit off, I’m not a native speaker. (Though I do study English in uni so I should be okay lmao, still a little insecure though :D)
> 
> Ok enough rambling, hope you enjoy the fic!

Sometimes darkness could be frightening, especially if you had as many nightmares as Sans. The image of the knife-wielding kid didn’t leave his mind even after he woke up in cold sweat, often leaving him feeling helpless and scared. Who knew what could lurk in the shadows, waiting for the right opportunity to strike. Sans always thought it was a ridiculous thought, but in the darkness of his room, with fear running through his body he was genuinely terrified. 

And when morning came, his room was always the same, and the only person in it was Sans himself. There was nothing to be scared of, yet the darkness always played tricks on his mind, twisting the poor skeleton’s fears against him. 

The thought of sleeping with the lights on had crossed Sans’ mind a few times, but there was just one problem. Papyrus would notice and the younger skeleton would not leave the matter be if it was up to him. Sure, Sans could say that he was too lazy to turn off the lights, but it wasn’t believable when Sans usually didn’t even turn them on anyways - he simply shuffled into bed in the darkness if there wasn't enough light coming from the window. He was most certainly not going to tell Papyrus about the nightmares. Papyrus had way too much on his plate to be even more worried about his brother than he already was. 

“You look awful, brother. If you didn’t spend your days napping instead of working, I would think that you weren’t getting enough sleep,” Papyrus said when he examined Sans while having breakfast. Well, Papyrus was right, but he didn’t know that the naps Sans took during the day were pretty much all sleep he ever got. He’d doze off simply because he was so exhausted. It was a loop he would probably never get out of.  
“’I’m fine Paps, really.” Papyrus squinted, as if he didn’t quite believe his brother, but dropped the matter anyways. Luckily for Sans. 

Maybe a night light would be a good idea. It wouldn’t get rid of the nightmares, but perhaps it would slow down Sans’ imagination, which was always fueled by the image of the kid wielding a knife. However, Papyrus was already on to him, suspicious about Sans’ sleeping habits. Sans couldn’t risk giving his brother more reason to doubt that everything wasn’t fine. 

The solution, however, was much closer than Sans expected. 

Snowdin’s hottest spot, the bar a certain bright monster ran, was packed full one night. All of the regulars were there and on top of that some new faces had found their way into Grillby’s.  
“Busy night, huh?” Sans asked when Grillby brought Sans his first bottle of ketchup. The fire elemental flickered happily, his flame bright. Perhaps that was why the bar was so warm and not the fact that it was packed full of other monsters, but it was pleasant considering how cold it was outside. Or then it was the fact that Sans wasn’t bothered with changes in temperature because he had no skin.  
“Yeah, but I can handle it,” Grillby answered. It had taken Sans quite a while to get used to the way Grillby spoke - it sounded more like crackling than words - but Sans had finally gotten the hang of it and could understand his favorite bartender with ease. However, it took more effort when the bar was full of monsters talking to each other, but for Grillby Sans would do anything, even if it meant putting in a little extra work to hear what the fire monster was saying. 

Grillby didn’t have much time to talk to Sans that night since he was so busy serving his customers, but Sans didn’t mind. He caught up with some old friends, cracked a huge amount of bad jokes, and perhaps some of his time was spent looking at Grillby while he worked, but Sans would never admit it. However, he liked watching Grillby work - well, he liked watching Grillby, but there was this aura of happiness around him whenever he was working. Grillby clearly loved his job. Before long it was closing time and the rest of the monsters started to clear out from the establishment. Sans, too, got up from his seat and rocked back and forth between his heel and toe to stretch out his legs that were tired from all of the sitting.   
“Welp, I should get going too. See ya, Grillbz.” Sans waved Grillby goodbye and started heading to the door, but Grillby had other plans.  
“Sans, could you stay? I need to talk to you about something.” Sans was just about to ask Grillby to talk right then and there, but the fire elemental continued after a beat. “In private.” Well, that explained why Grillby couldn’t just start talking. There were still a couple of monsters pulling on their coats and checking the booths just to be sure they didn’t leave anything behind. Sans got a couple of odd looks from them. They probably wondered the same thing as Sans did: what could be so important Grillby couldn't tell it in front of other monsters?  
“All right.” Sans sat back down on his seat in front of the counter. 

When the rest of the monsters had cleared from the bar, Grillby went over to the front door and flipped the sign to say closed. As Grillby headed back to the back of the bar to get some cleaning supplies, Sans was patiently waiting for Grillby to say whatever he wanted to say to him. Yet, the silence drew longer as Grillby started to wipe down the tables with a dry cloth.  
“So, what did you want to talk about? Is it about my tab? I promise I will pay it soon,” Sans said half jokingly, breaking the ice. Even though Sans could only see Grillby’s back, he could tell Grillby was uncomfortable from the way his flames shifted. So something heavier then, something Grillby was uncomfortable talking about. No wonder Grillby hadn’t wanted to talk about it with others in the room.  
“Sans,” Grillby started, but held a dramatic pause. He sure loved those. “You know you’re my favourite customer, right?”  
“This why you asked me to stay? You could’ve told me that anytime,” Sans said with a smile. Of course Grillby was just trying to dance around the real subject, but Sans was doing the same. Serious conversation wasn't his forte.  
“Sans, please.” Grillby turned to look at Sans and the look on his face made Sans’ soul hurt. Grillby looked so...small, not physically, but there was desperation in his eyes like he was pleading Sans to take this seriously. Sans sighed and smiled wide.   
“Of course I know that, Grillbz. Who wouldn’t enjoy the company of such a sans-sation?” Sans answered with a wink. On the inside he was screaming though. Sans hated serious conversations. Grillby didn’t seem to mind Sans making light of the situation with that joke. Heh, light. Sans needed to use that one sometime again. Grillby gave Sans a patient smile as he wiped down another table.  
“But I’d like for you to, uh, be more than that.” There was a little glimmer of hope in Sans’ eyes, yet he buried it as fast as it had appeared. Grillby couldn’t mean that.   
“What, like an employee? You already know I’m too lazy. B’sides, doubt that I’d be any better of a cook than Paps is,” Sans joked. He fully knew that it wasn’t what Grillby meant, but he wasn’t going to let Grillby off easily. And he most certainly wouldn’t make a fool out of himself by jumping into conclusions. Playing dumb was a better option.  
“No, Sans,” Grillby muttered. His voice was unsure and shy, but there was a tinge of annoyment in the mix. Grillby probably wished that Sans took this more seriously. “Try again.”  
“A friend?” There was a long, agonizing pause.  
“More than that.” There was a blue tint on Grillby’s cheeks Sans had never seen before. Oh God. Grillby meant it. For a second Sans was left speechless, staring at Grillby with wide eyes.   
“You mean…” Sans managed to mutter. Grillby seemed to regret his confession, because before Sans could even continue his sentence, Grillby was already apologizing.   
“I’m sorry I-” Grillby started, already sounding regretful and defeated, but Sans couldn’t let him finish.   
“Whoa, Grillbz, and here I thought I was the only one who thought that you were hot.”  
“...did you just make a pun?” Grillby didn’t sound too amused and him crossing his arms told the same story.   
“Uhh, maybe,” Sans admitted with a sheepish smile. Though he wanted Grillby to know that he actually felt the same way. Sans’ voice dropped low when he said: “But I‘m serious, you know?” Grillby flashed a small, relieved smile.   
“How about a date then?”  
“Sure.”

One night Sans found himself in the apartment connected to the bar, lying on Grillby’s chest and there he realized that he had found a solution to his problem. Grillby’s natural light was soothing, and his warmth calmed Sans down. Sans guessed not every monster would appreciate Grillby’s special set of natural advantages, or disadvantages, depending on which way you looked at it, but to Sans it was all a bonus. The bright, warm light Grillby emitted would probably cause some monsters to lose sleep and the scorching heat would be unbearable to many, yet Sans enjoyed them both. The way Grillby’s flames licked his bones tickled in a pleasant manner, making Sans feel sleepy. It was unlike his usual state of being constantly tired, no, he felt soft and warm instead of miserable and scared to fall asleep in fear of having another nightmare. Maybe some of it was to do with the fact that the monster who was asleep next to him meant a lot to Sans, but that, too, was only a bonus. Dating Grillby had brought nothing but good things to Sans’ life.

Maybe he could get proper rest at last. Grillby’s light would keep the darkness out of the room and his warmth would lull Sans right back to sleep whenever he would wake up. And if his nightmares got bad, Grillby was right there to comfort him.

Sans didn’t need a night light - he had found something so much better. 

And the demon in Sans' dreams dropped their knife in anger, defeated.


End file.
